Clients

The client had developed a new fastener retainment system for freight railcar journal bearing end caps and needed assistance with communicating the value of the system to the industry to improve the fastener retention. The client also needed assistance with presenting the value of the system to congressional leaders for the purposes of influencing US-DOT requirements. 

SFTrout Railroad Consulting prepared and presented a presentation to the AAR-WABL Committee regarding the value of the system for improving service reliability and safety. We also compiled a comprehensive proposal for the AAR rules and Field Manual to accommodate the improved technology.

SFTrout Railroad Consulting briefed Senatorial staff in Washington regarding the technology of freight railroading in general as well as the improved service reliability capable with new and innovative products and techniques.

The legacy supplier of large castings for the military, industry, and primarily railroad freight and passenger cars needed leadership for product improvement, project management, and new business development.

SFTrout Railroad Consulting assumed the role of VP for the engineering and quality systems groups at the foundry location in OH. We provided project management services for an existing order of bogies for new passenger coaches being produced for AMTRAK, for the design development and validation of a new class of transit bogies for CAL-DOT and Illinois DOT for regional passenger railcars, and for the proposed design for the new Orange and Red Line cars for MBTA in Boston.

SFTrout Railroad Consulting led the effort to produce and present the bogies for MBTA to many of the prospective railcar builders including Technical Proposals and Formal Quotations.

SFTrout Railroad Consulting guided the internal efforts at the foundry to improve the functionality of current products as well as bring new designs to the manufacturing stage.

The client was a multi-national supplier of passenger rail equipment worldwide and had received a contract to produce four “new” luxury passenger rail coaches for a Canadian-based cruise train operator using formerly retired early model commuter coaches. The client had started production on two of the retired coaches and needed help with project management to bring the vehicles to completion and delivery to the end customer.

SFTrout Railroad Consulting assumed the role of Project Manager and regained control of the project by coordinating the efforts of the in-house design staff, the multitude of designs from sub-system suppliers, the production team, and procurement of materials from world-wide sources during a widespread disruption of west coast shipping due to a prolonged dock worker strike. We also assumed the primary contact role and coordination with the Canadian customer for milestone approvals, progress reporting, scheduling, and ultimately documentation of the deliveries.

A US-based supplier of specialty freight cars was in discussions with a middle eastern customer regarding the supply of open top ore cars to bring unrefined ore from the mines in the interior to port facilities for export. The end customer had specified a gross rail load that exceeded standard heavy rail equipment used in north America and Australia. The increased gross rail load required the design and manufacture of new bogies for the service.

SFTrout Railroad Consulting conducted research regarding the availability of off-the-shelf products that could be used to satisfy the end customer requirements. The research drove the conceptual design of a fabricated bogie and custom brake system to safely perform in service with a freight car that exceeded 350,000-pound gross rail load in a unit train configuration.

A US supplier of new locomotives and locomotive refurbishment services was considering a program to convert retired passenger locomotives to a full electric locomotive or a battery-electric hybrid for one commuter rail operation in the Northeast and potentially to other commuter operators in the eastern US where overhead catenary was already in place.

SFTrout Railroad Consulting prepared a design concept of a converted diesel-electric locomotive using most of the existing running gear, frame, cab, signal systems, and the high-voltage motor control system, and adding additional equipment to collect and convert 25kVAC single-phase overhead catenary to traction, auxiliary, and hotel power for 12-14 car commuter rail passenger trains. The design concept of the battery-electric hybrid specified off-the-shelf industrial power storage and charging systems to provide emergency backup power for in-service trains during an unexpected overhead power failure, but only for short distances at low speed. The added value of the battery-electric hybrid was for shunting trains in and out of yards that did not have services of overhead catenary, saving significant time and CAPEX resources to electrify multiple yards.